Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Primary Explosives

Xenos - 2-9-2002 at 10:08

Ive been reading up on the various primary explosives. Most of them seem very difficult to make. From experience, what would be an easy effective pirmary. Would TACC or Lead Trinitrooxybenzoate be good? Never know when you might need this information :)

madscientist - 2-9-2002 at 10:20

Unfortunately, it seems that difficulty of preparation goes hand-in-hand with the quality of the primary. Acetone peroxide is the easiest to make, and is one of the worst; it's volatile, unstable, and not that powerful. HMTD is a little better, but is still quite sensitive. DDNP and lead azide are some of the best primaries, but they take a considerable amount of effort to prepare (if you're not going to mail order any chemicals). DDNP (diazodinitrophenol) can be prepared from the following starting chemicals: acetylsalicylic acid, sodium nitrate, sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide, sulfur, and sodium nitrite (easily made from sodium nitrate, see thread on "Preparation of ionic nitrites" in General Chemistry). Lead azide can be prepared from nitric or acetic acid, lead metal, sodium nitrite, and hydrazine (usually prepared from reacting NaOCl and NH3, adding gelatin to the mix to sequester Cu++ ions which catalyze a competing reaction that destroys hydrazine).

If you're working with limited resources, I'd recommend HMTD. But if you can, avoid any primary that is an organic peroxide. I also would stay away from mercury fulminate, which is supposed to be terribly friction sensitive. What chemicals do you have access to? It's hard to make a recommendation without that knowledge. :)

Ramiel - 3-9-2002 at 02:22

Yes, I intend to make DDNP, it seems to be a great quality primary, and not too sensitive (which is a big consideration for me).

ps. Would Potassium Nitrate/nitrite be a suitable substitute for Sodium Nitrate/Nitrite?

pps. Someone I know well has a licence for buying High Explosives etc. in Australia (that is HARD to get in Aus.). This person was talking about different "Frequency" detonaters. I've never come across this term before, could someone clarify this for me?

Madog - 3-9-2002 at 05:50

i may make DDNP soon. potassium and sodium nitrate/nitrite are interchangeable. except that the sodium compounds have more NO3 or NO2 per gram than the k compounds. this can be easily calculateed though.

frequenceys? do you mean the numbers?

here is what i know

#1 - smallest. will detonate NG, PETN, MHN, 80 PETN/20 TNT pentolite. of course there are more but those are the common ones.

#6- used to be the industry standard until it was made o #8. this will detonate dynamite and all sorts of fun things. im pretty sure this will detonate C4 but it is more reliable to use a #8 cap.

#8 - this is the industry standard. a synonym for it is "military blasting cap". it will detonate alot of stuff. i have herd that a #8 is 750mg of PETN or RDX but then again i have herd that it is 1g of AP. i would go with the 750mg of PETN or RDX.

#10 - this is the "highest" i heard it was 2g of mercury fulminate. but i herd somone mention a #13 cap once so it may not be the bigest.

of course there are caps inbetween but they are not often used or mentioned.

a simprovisers we dont useualy get to use such things so there is confuseion over what exactly they are.

Xenos - 3-9-2002 at 10:22

I have:
KNO3
KClO4
NH4 NO3
S
NH4 CO3
CuSO4
Sr/Ba (NO3)2
Al, Zn, Mg
Lead Oxide for some reason
Hg
Weak, 30% H2SO4 (im working on getting 90%)
A plan to make HNO3 which i havnt tried
Acetone
NaF
Na2C2O4
Sodium Benzoate
And other stuff that doesnt seem too important right now, or that i can easily buy

PHILOU Zrealone - 9-9-2002 at 15:39

Hg oxalate!
Hg acetylide nitrato complex!
Cu(NH3)4(ClO4)2!

Those are already a good start!

PH Z

primary explosives

wittiness2 - 4-10-2002 at 19:37

2,3-naphthacene (tetracene)
C2H8N10O
vod > 4500 m/s
d ~ 189 g/mol
mp/dc > 160 C

are a sensitive primary explosive with low density.
It`s actual no a primary explosive, instead designed to mix with other explosives in blasting caps or
booster charges and can be used to ignite bounded high secondary explosives than hexogen/octogen/TNA .
2,3-naphthacene are a yellow breezy powder, which are used sometimes in photooptic-elements.
It`s sensitive to shock and heat, and explodes when ignited by flame or heat.
The brisiance of tetracene are very high
at powdered density.
The manufacturing are sometimes expensive, therefore it was, prepared outside the USA, in laboratorys for instance in Venezuela.

2,3-naphthacene

wittiness2 - 4-10-2002 at 19:42



2,3-naphtacene.jpg - 37kB

problems with fumes

crusader - 9-10-2002 at 08:15

How i can protect me of toxic fumes
by preparation of r-salt.
To 51 ml concentrated HCl add 14 g HMT
and cool. After cooling add 5 g of NaNO2.
The evaporating yellow fumes are toxic (NOX).
Exist a apparatus to fume-protection ?

Polverone - 9-10-2002 at 11:06

Work outdoors. Use a vacuum cleaner to suck the fumes away from the reaction and carry them outside (as Rhadon has suggested). Note that this may be detrimental to metallic components of the vacuum cleaner over time. You can usually add NaNO2 to acidic mixtures without very much fuming if your solution is truly cold and you add the nitrite gradually. How cold are you making your solution first?

tito-o-mac - 1-7-2007 at 00:43

No way! Do not use the vacuum cleaner! If you do, the gasses may get trap in the vacuum cleaner and heat from the motor may raise the temperature, resulting in dire consequences! If you do, use in moderation! Too bad I'm 5 years late to this response!:(

Swany - 5-7-2007 at 18:39

Dire consequences such as what? I really dont see how gas could trap in the cleaner itself. If you filled the bag with activated charcoal or put a filter on the hose, I see a potentially very useful device. Its not as if he was vacuuming pure acetylene away. Relatively small amounts of nitrogen oxides. Nice of you to try and save the world, albiet 5 years too late....

In other primary-explosive related news, I am going to attempt some nitrodiazobenzonium derivs coordinated with metals. Just a muse...